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The IT team at your company has a very busy job to do, and sometimes, it seems like their work never ends. This is why many companies solicit the help of a CIO, who can work with IT to manage the network and keep an eye on any risk factors. Since there always seems to be a lot of buzz coming from the IT room, it can be difficult for a company leader to determine if there’s a real issue going on, or that’s just a normal day-to-day situation. So, how will you know when the silence or the chatter actually means something?

C-level leaders need to be able to rely on their teams to recognize when the company may be on the verge of an IT nightmare. While it’s not always entirely clear, there are some key signs you can look out for to prepare yourself for what’s coming, and hopefully stop whatever it is in its path.

1) You Seem to Be Left Out of the Conversation

If you used to be copied on all the correspondence going on between your IT team, your CIO, and other employees working with your company, but now your inbox is empty, this could be bad news. While it could just be a glitch in the system (which, isn’t a good thing, either), if your staff has stopped reaching out to you about problems, then the problem may be much bigger.

As a C-level leader, it’s important to be wrapped up in the conversation, even though you may not have time to worry about it. You can’t be responsible for anything if the information isn’t getting to you quickly enough.

2) There’s A Lot of Turnover

All of a sudden, there are people in the office you don’t recognize or vendors on the other end of the phone that you’ve never worked with before. A few employees that you know well have given in their notice and new employees with seemingly less experience have been hired. Hopefully, you’ve been made aware of the changes, but ultimately, too many turnovers can be detrimental to IT. Or, the problems with IT are so severe, that it’s caused people to move onto something different.

There are many reasons why turnovers are indicative of a bigger problem. But, overall, having new employees or contractors join the team constantly, can let a breach inside that much easier. This is especially more likely with the constant onboarding and off boarding of new staff members as it’s difficult to manage so many new network identities.

3) The Alerts Never Stop

Sometimes, there isn’t enough work to do, and other times, it’s like the work never ends. If customers are continuing to call in or email their IT problems and your team can’t keep up, that’s an IT disaster waiting to happen. This doesn’t mean you need to hire more people, but instead, you have to find a solution to these consistent problems that are distracting IT away from what’s critical.

4) There’s a Lack of Innovation

Technology is constantly improving each and every day and IT teams should always be striving to find better solutions to new and old problems. There should be frequent meetings about what IT is currently up to, what new data breaches or Malware cases have been reported, or what changes are being made to streamline processes throughout the company.

At these meetings (or e-mail correspondences) it should be evident that IT and other C-level leaders are constantly searching for new ideas. There should always be new proposals circulating, and if there aren’t, that could mean that there’s a problem somewhere.

5) Auditors are Making Frequent Appearances

If there’s any indication that you’re about to wake up to an IT nightmare, it’s that auditors are showing up at your office, and your compliance check already passed months ago. There’s no reason auditors should be interested in your company unless something is seriously astray. If this is happening, then don’t waste any time; figure out what’s going on, now.

These are just a few indicators that something’s not right in the IT department. If you’re noticing any of these signs, then it’s time to take a closer look at the inner-workings of your company and fix the problems ASAP. If you’re not sure where to start, a CIO can help you rewind, discover the problems, and assign solutions and strategies that will be effective long-term.